Oldest rocketeer!!!

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I just turned 70. I was there at the Big Bang! Or, that's what my wife says about my spontaneous gas releases.:wink::facepalm:
 
How about making it the "oldest" active flier who perhaps pulls off at least one high powered launch a year? That means something like an H motor.
I suspect there are those who are "retired" fliers and maintain their membership in a group and find it hard to participate in a build or launch
due to infirmaties of the aged. Cripes, might be hard to get out and watch. If they have something like macular degeneration they might not be
able to see much and only be able to hear the results of a launch. Then again, if the hearing is going might not be able to do nothing more than
socialize with the fliers. Dang, not fun getting old! Kurt
 
Carl McLawhorn (RIP) and I used to try to one up each other as to who was older.

I would say I was o1der than dirt and he'd respond that he was breaking down boulders into stones before they became dirt.

Thinking of you, Carl. :sigh:
 
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How about making it the "oldest" active flier who perhaps pulls off at least one high powered launch a year? That means something like an H motor.
I suspect there are those who are "retired" fliers and maintain their membership in a group and find it hard to participate in a build or launch
due to infirmaties of the aged. Cripes, might be hard to get out and watch. If they have something like macular degeneration they might not be
able to see much and only be able to hear the results of a launch. Then again, if the hearing is going might not be able to do nothing more than
socialize with the fliers. Dang, not fun getting old! Kurt

Man, I was working on a rocket and then read this and feel like I just need to lie down and take a nap. ;)

I'll be 69 next month. Last year I went to URRF in New York in the Spring, and BALLS in the Fall, flew five (5) M motors or above and built three new fiberglass level three rockets. Helped maintain Tripoli Mid Ohio's equipment and I also attended several launches at two local clubs throughout the year. I missed out on MWP last year but I hope that will happen this year. Plans for this year include much of the same if not more. I serve as a senior advisor for a NAR section and Vice President for TMO.

My eyesight and hearing are not great but I have GPS and hearing aids to help with all that. Plus the guys feel sorry for me and sometimes help retrieve my rockets. And sometimes I help them. Hey, I have good days too. :)
 
There are 10 kinds of people in the world. Those that understand binary, and those that don't.

I have a really strong urge to pretend I don't get it and say "that's two" even though it would make me look like a complete &@$%£!€$. :D
 
How about making it the "oldest" active flier who perhaps pulls off at least one high powered launch a year? That means something like an H motor.
I suspect there are those who are "retired" fliers and maintain their membership in a group and find it hard to participate in a build or launch
due to infirmaties of the aged.

Oh, sure. Penalize the Northern California rocketeers who dealing with a combination of drought AND deluge. Either the fields are too dry or the roads have been washed out. You just can't win.

Anyway I better update my sig to include the I300T and the I366R in my Polecat Aerspace Goblin 5.5"... Should put me up around 2000 Ns for 2016.
 
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I am 70 and flew my first rocket in 1963. I remember I had to connect the clips to a car battery to launch. The battery was in a 1949 Plymouth 4 door.
 
I'm 69 and still launch 3 or 4 times a year. Being somewhat on a budget, mostly I's and J's, though I do try to do a least one K or bigger a year. Flew my first rocket in about 1961, or 62. Did it for a couple of years, and it being the sixties discovered sex, drugs and rock and roll. So much for rockets. Became BAR about 10 years ago.

Mike
 
And this finally explains why so many of us are crotchety..........
 
I'm 64. Been doing this since '64. Has kind of a nice ring to it, doesn't it? Well, I was momentarily distracted by fast cars and hot girls back in my late teens. Or maybe it was hot cars and fast girls? Dang, I just don't remember the details, but I must have wised-up, since I'm doing rockets again.
 
Carl McLawhorn (RIP) and I used to try to one up each other as to who was older.

I would say I was o1der than dirt and he'd respond that he was breaking down boulders into stones before they became dirt.

Thinking of you, Carl. :sigh:

Thank you for bringing this up, I remember him talking about the age thing. He had such a great sense of humor, could always make me laugh when I was the "Scotty", "she's going to blow captain".
 
Geez, I have model rockets older than many folks here! I think my oldest rocket is just a bit over 40.
 
65........yesterday.

I have rockets 50 yrs old.
I fly micro-to mega!

Working on a full scale sounding rocket. :dark:
 
I am almost 53. 13 more days of 52. I started flying model rockets in 6th grade. Let's see that would have been 1974 or 1975. I am a BAR. I got back into rockets when a friend of mine invited me to come out to a Kloudbuster launch back in 2009 or so. He then gave me his old LOC IV airframe minus chute and nosecone. Told me to fix it and come fly HPR with him. Did that and built a couple Estes rockets again as well. I built a scratch built rocket and got my L2 at LDRS 30 in 2011.

The oldest guy at our Kloudbuster launches is Gunner. He was 86 at AirFest last year. Told us he was too honery to die. He has survived, a crash landing in 'Nam, cancer twice, a head on collision at 70mph. He didn't fly any rockets last year because he had just gotten out of the hospital a few weeks earlier from the head-on collision. At one time he was certified TRA L2 but I think that has lapsed.
 
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Hah, I'm not even in the running here, though I've got some models built 44 years ago in June 1972. In the 1980's a guy named Clyde Howard used to come to DART launches at Fiesta Island when he was in his 80s. His license plate just said "NARAM".
 
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